Jan 30, 2007- Congresswoman Kaptur Vows To Lead Fight To Deny President Bush "Fast Track" Authority

Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution grants to thelegislative branch the power "to regulate commerce with foreign nations."

Fast track is an artifice that emasculates the role of the legislativebranch and transfers undue power over international trade to the executivebranch. It empowers the executive branch to negotiate and sign internationaltrade agreements without first consulting with the legislative branch. Itfurther hamstrings Congress by imposing a 90-day deadline to vote "up or down"on trade agreements with no opportunity to improve them or mitigate their mostharmful provisions through the normal legislative process. I have neverunderstood why we in the Congress do this to ourselves or to the people whoelect us to represent them, much less do such a disservice to the wisdom andvision of the Founders.

Let us never forget that "fast track" was the legerdemain by which theAdministration rammed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) throughthe House. Those of us who were here will never forget: the final vote cameafter midnight on July 28, 2005 as Tom DeLay held the vote open for 47 minutes.

Fast track was also the vehicle by which President Bush and his alliesenacted bilateral trade agreements with Morocco,Bahrain, Singapore, Chile,Oman and Australia.

Fast track has facilitated the failed trade policies of the BushAdministration that have resulted in five consecutive record trade deficits.President Bush has racked up an astounding $3.38 trillion in trade deficitssince he was put in office in 2001.

When the December trade figures are announced, it will be official: the 2006annual trade deficit will have doubled during the tenure of President Bush. Wewill have seen our nation's annual trade deficit increase during the past sixyears from $362.7 billion in 2001 to almost $800 billion.

In the nation's heartland, we have seen job losses of epic proportions. Wehave seen China emerge as aglobal economic superpower and form with Japana lethal one-two punch to the jobs, hopes and dreams of MiddleAmerica. We have seen vital parts of our manufacturing basedisappear. In Ohioand heartland states, we know well what fast track means for our constituents:it means lost jobs and lost industries. It means unemployment and a lowerstandard of living.

Indeed, if the executive branch were doing a good job of negotiating tradeagreements, the UnitedStates would not be hemorrhaging jobs andracking up larger and larger trade deficits each succeeding year.

Moreover, Congress has learned the hard way how this President handlesextraordinary grants of authority. For evidence, we obviously need to look nofarther than the debacle in Iraq.President Bush takes extraordinary grants of authority and then cavalierlytransforms them into abuses of power. It would be nothing less thanirresponsible for this Congress, knowing what it knows now about how PresidentBush views the separation of powers, to grant him fast track authority. Inshort, President Bush has proven that he cannot be trusted with suchextraordinary power.

Surely Congress has learned the consequences of ceding its constitutionalauthority to any Administration, much less an Administration with no moreregard for the legislative branch or the rule of law than the BushAdministration. In 2002, the House of Representatives approved fast track by amargin of two votes. The President will soon ask for a renewal of thatextraordinary authority, but only 12 of the 25 Democrats who voted for thatmeasure are still Members of Congress. Recently, 39 freshman Members of theDemocratic Caucus signed a letter denouncing the Bush Administration's"misguided trade agenda."

Fast track is situated at the heart of that misguided agenda. For thatreason, Congress must deny President Bush fast track authority, and I will worktirelessly-along with Republicans who care about jobs and fair trade-to repairthe damage this Administration has done to our economy and our future and todeny the President fast track authority.